The short 5 days I spent in Kutch last month has left a myriad of  images in my mind –  of the flat, uncluttered country side, the great, impressive architectural marvels  (Rani-ki-vav, Aina Mahal at Bhuj, Sun temple of Modhera) and wonderful, impressive crafts people and their art. But the most recurring image is that of the little girl, holding rock salt in her hand and flashing the most glorious smile for the camera.

This  is Meena, all of 7 years old, who  lives with her parents in the flat lands of the little Rann. And when I say flat, by jove is it flat!! I have never seen anything like it and am unlikely to –  it  is a  vast extant of cracked brown  mudflats, stretching as far as the eye can see.  Under a searing white sun, where temperatures rise into the 50s and…